Middle East/North Africa

Algerian authorities since December 1, 2016, have rounded up more than 1,400 sub-Saharan migrants and reportedly deported at least several hundred across the border into Niger, Human Rights Watch said today.

On December 7, the US-led coalition’s Combined Joint Task Force, “Operation Inherent Resolve”, issued a statement that it had conducted a “precision airstrike” on al-Salam hospital in the east of Mosul city. The statement justified the December 6 strike by saying that Islamic State, also known as ISIS, fighters were attacking Iraqi Security Forces from the hospital complex, which they were using as a base of operations and command and control headquarters.

“What will happen to us?” “Will they fingerprint us?” was the constant refrain as we watched a human wave of asylum seekers and migrants from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan crossing the Serbia-Hungary border.